My second gig, again courtesy of Pop-Up Comedy. By this point, I’d reorganised my material from the first gig and changed the delivery of some of the lines. I also had to drop some of my opening jokes about being my first gig, since they were only relevant the first time. Tonight was a strange affair, with an audience numbering…two. Two paying punters, nine or ten comedians, a barman, and maybe four or five people who had come along to support their friend/partner.
That said, it was a great night – I got the chance to do my new set in full and uninterrupted, and got a laugh rate I was happy with. I changed my second joke at the last minute to one about a story in the paper that day – VisitScotland had put out a press release saying how great for shops Glasgow is, naming twenty such as Versace, Gucci, etc. But as the Evening Times noted, almost all of them had shut or relocated. Some of them had even been shut for five years. So I mentioned this and added “VisitScotland have since put out a new press release saying: Come to Glasgow, it’s near Braehead” – I’ve used that three times now and it always gets a laugh, although I realise it’s relevance is probably finite. The front page of the paper is DEFINITELY finite, I’m not sure how much more folding/unfolding it can take before it starts to disintegrate…
A fun night, headlined by Ancient Annie – she was one of the first comedians I saw and spoke to on the circuit, and it was great to see her go through to the final of the Scottish Comedian of the Year. Her set always gets a good reaction, and tonight she did it without a mic – it died right before her set, but the intimate nature of the gig meant we all heard her just fine.
A good night, and a very enjoyable second gig.
Adventures in the world of stand-up comedy 